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Dreamliner suffers cracked windscreen

The flight from Delhi to Melbourne, carrying 74 passengers, suffered the problem late on Sunday while landing in the Australian city, Air India spokesman Praveen Bhatnagar told AFP.

"The cockpit windscreen developed a crack while landing. It was a small incident. The windscreen has already been replaced," said Mr Bhatnagar. He added that there was no risk to the safety of passengers on board.

While all passengers were transferred to another flight for the return leg, Air India flew in a new windscreen from India to replace the cracked one.

Air India's fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners has several suffered technical glitches in recent weeks, including an incident last month where a fuselage panel of a jet fell off while landing in the southern city of Bangalore.

The Dreamliner has encountered several serious difficulties since entering operation two years ago, especially with its batteries, causing the entire fleet to be grounded for about four months earlier this year.

But Air India dismissed any claims of technical glitches on the Melbourne-bound flight.

"It was no aircraft glitch. This may have happened due to rapid change in temperatures or some other particles on the windscreen while landing," said Mr Bhatnagar.

Other airlines to have uncovered problems with their 787s include Norwegian Air Shuttle, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, United Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways.